Jrue Holiday: Can The Sixer's Young Star Be One Of The Top 5 Point Guards?
Recently, the Sixer's new head coach, Doug Collins, said that he believed that Jrue Holiday would be considered one of the top five point guards in the NBA by next season. Is he crazy? Or is there something to that bold statement?
The Case Against Holiday
One of the biggest barriers for Holiday is the number of point guards who are currently considered ahead of him. Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Rajon Rondo, Derrick Rose, Chauncey Billups, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, and Russell Westbrook are all unanimously considered better than Holiday. In addition, there is a whole other group of players that are grouped with Holiday, players like Devin Harris, Tony Parker, Baron Davis and Aaron Brooks.
In addition, it may be a bit premature to crown Jrue, seeing as this is only his second season, and he is not yet fulfilled his admittedly large potential. While his defense and facilitating skills are certainly strong, he is not yet a great shooter, as he only shot 44 percent last year.
The Case For Holiday
As mentioned before Holiday is a very good defender and pure point guard. If Coach Collins were to say that he believed that Holiday would be considered one of the top five defenders at the point by the end of the year, I think that most would have no problems with the statement.
While Holiday certainly has a noticeable flaw in his lack of shooting prowess, closer examination shows that all of the top point guards save Chris Paul and Deron Williams have significant flaws. Rajon Rondo is probably the most similar player to Jrue, as both are quality defenders, good facilitators, and quality rebounders from the point. In addition, both Rondo and Holiday struggle with inconsistent shooting.
Verdict
While I still believe that Holiday is a bit of a stretch as a top 5 point guard, the important thing to understand is that Coach Collins stated that this would occur by next year. This allows a whole season of Jrue growing into his potential, and he certainly has the potential to be a top 5 point guard at some point in his career.
